An Igbo social-cultural group, Odinala Cultural Heritage Foundation (OCHIE), has called for the establishment of the Southeast Development Commission (SEDC) and the Ministry for South East Affairs.

It further called for a review of the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) project and National Gas Masterplan to include the Southeast and South-South regions in the Nigeria Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP).

OCHIE is a sociocultural organisation that comprises young Igbo professionals from across the globe with the interest of protecting the Southeast socio-economic advancement of its people in the Nigerian project.

The demand is contained in a letter addressed to the leadership of the National Assembly and the Minister of State for Petroleum, by Dr. Chukwuma Ogugua Orji and Okoro Chinedum Benedict who are the National President and Chairman, Board of Trustees of OCHIE, respectively.

Specifically, the letter is addressed to the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio; the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas; the deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu; Minister of State for Petroleum, Heineken Elperikpe Ekpo; Chairman Senate Committee on Gas, Agom Jarigbe; House Committee Chairman on Petroleum, Imo Ugochinyere and Nicholas Mutu, House Committee Chairman on Gas and Resources.

The group alleged that the Southeast was deliberately schemed out of any direct participation or derivable benefits from the NGMP even though the National Gas Survey Plan situates substantial gas deposits in the Niger Delta, Enugu, Imo, and Abia States.

Conversely, the group said “there is no known and exploitable natural gas along the Ajaokuta-Abuja-Kaduna-Kano axis of the natural gas pipeline which President Buhari commissioned on June 30, 2020.

“As such, the force of our argument rests on the fact that given the volume of gas deposit in the Southeast and South-South, it is implausible that these two Regions were excluded from such an expansive developmental project.

“We are therefore employing dialogue and quiet diplomacy to achieve the following objectives:

“That the policy introducing the NGEP be reviewed and further expanded to accommodate the Southeast and South-South Regions.

“That a Gas Power Plant of about 1,000, 000 cubic litres’ capacity be headquartered at Imo State, as the backbone of an Industrial Park in the Region. This could power emergent industries with steady energy and serve as economic indemnity for the Southeast people.

“That the quantum of Gas deposit in the Southeast is sufficient enough to serve as an insurance to the Nigerian Senate and Federal Government to pass and assent to the Bill seeking the establishment of the Southeast Development Commission (SEDC) and a Ministry for Southeast Affairs.

“To persuade the authorities to ensure that the Gas headquarters is sited in our region, which has the capacity to exploit about 1, 000, 000 cubic litres of LPG, LNG and CNG and other ancillary business that will yield greater income to the Federal Government, which is the primary reason for the NGEP.

“Therefore, we most humbly wish to seek your partnership in or advocacy for the inclusion of Southeast and South – South geopolitical zone in the National Gas Plan,” the letter reads. (Daily Sun)

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